Senator Diane Allen listens to testimony during the Senate health committee meeting to hear testimony on bill that would let adults who had been adopted obtain their original birth certificates as well as medical history.Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger

Adults who were adopted as children have the right to information about their family health history. It’s critical to their well-being and peace of mind.

But because that information depends on discovering the identity of their biological mothers, the issue is fraught with tension. Women may not wish to be directly contacted by or establish a relationship with the child they surrendered many years ago, under circumstances — such as rape or incest — they want to forget. Some may have families who are unaware of their past and the difficult decision they had to make.

Balancing a basic human right — to know one’s history — with the right to privacy is a tricky proposition. Under current law, birth records can be released only by court order, and legislative efforts to unseal those records have failed over the past 30 years.

Gov. Chris Christie two years ago conditionally vetoed a bill he believed failed to strike the right balance, because it failed to protect a woman’s right to remain anonymous. But Sen. Diane Allen (R-Burlington), who has sponsored the bill over the past 17 years, has not given up: The latest version of the bill cleared the health committee last week and heads to the full Senate.

It would allow the adult adoptees to request their birth certificate from the state health department and find out the birth parents’ contact preferences: to be contacted directly, through an intermediary or not at all. New Jersey adoptions since 1979 have required medical history access, but under this bill those adopted in 1979 or before would also have the right to access those records.

“Our plan is to work with the administration to find common ground,” Allen said.
Good. A bill that satisfies all parties — and respects their rights — is long overdue.